The invention relates generally to the field of bioinformatics. More specifically, the invention relates to a method of quality control for bioinformatic systems.
Methods of analyzing biological samples are generally known. In a typical analysis, mass spectroscopy is performed on the biological sample to determine its overall biochemical make-up. Based on the mass spectra obtained from the mass spectroscopy, various diagnostics may be run.
When biological samples are analyzed, it is desirable to perform more than one trial on the biological sample, thereby improving the accuracy of the diagnostic. Analysis of biological samples may be performed by using biochips, electrospray, or other protein separation techniques. A problem arises as samples are analyzed over time. The apparatus used to extract data from the samples may become uncalibrated, or a variation between chips when using biochips (e.g., in using SELDI or MALDI methods), or between diluents (when using electrospray techniques) may cause data obtained from the sample to become skewed.
Therefore, there is a need for a method of monitoring bioassay processes to determine when the process may be producing inaccurate data that may lead to a misdiagnosis.